Monday, April 4, 2016

The Power of Interest Drives Learning

When students are interested in what they are learning, they pay deeper attention and process the information more efficiently. They engage in more critical thinking and connect what they already know with what they are learning. They work harder and persist longer. They bring all the skills they have to the task at hand.

To make a subject interesting to learners, it should be related to a familiar subject, not too hard or too easy to understand, students should comprehend what they are learning and master the challenges presented to them.

For my college level students, I have to follow the curriculum, but at the same time I give my students the freedom to follow their interests by giving them a main topic to follow and let them choose a subtopic they are interested to learn about. As an example, the final project they have for this semester is about The Arabic culture; there are many subtopics to choose from depend on their interests.

Open badges is a new and interesting idea to me in teaching and learning. When I was reading Kira's tips about teaching with open badges, the first tip made me immediately think about my kids and the trophies, medals, ribbons, and badges they have won from business clubs, baseball games, boy scout activities, and swim team competitions. Their reactions become clear when they get the awards, and how they put more effort after getting those awards. I asked myself, "can it be the same with learning in the school?" After reading what was posted on ED677 page and doing my research, the answer was yes. But I think college students still care about their As for their GPA, especially if their intent is to continue studying for a higher level of degrees.